Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wpx84 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-09T04:31:58.511Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Days of (un) Rest: Political Consumerism and the Struggle over the Sabbath

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2012

Guy Ben Porat  and
Omri Shamir
Guy Ben Porat*
Affiliation:
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Omri Shamir*
Affiliation:
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Guy Ben Porat, Department of Public Policy and Administration, Guilford Glazer School of Business and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel84105. E-mail: gbp@som.bgu.ac.il; or to Omri Shamir, Department of Public Policy and Administration, Guilford Glazer School of Business and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel84105. E-mail: shamiro1@zahav.net.il
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Guy Ben Porat, Department of Public Policy and Administration, Guilford Glazer School of Business and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel84105. E-mail: gbp@som.bgu.ac.il; or to Omri Shamir, Department of Public Policy and Administration, Guilford Glazer School of Business and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel84105. E-mail: shamiro1@zahav.net.il
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In spite of legal limitations, commerce in Israel on the Sabbath has expanded significantly in the past two decades. This secular development is counteracted by religious boycotts of stores operating on the Sabbath. Using Ulrich Beck's concept of sub-politics, we explain the shift away from the formal political realm, a result of a deadlocked political system that is no longer able to regulate boundaries between the religious and secular realm. As a result, both religious and secular communities use their power as consumers, albeit in different ways, to shape the public sphere. Using media reports and open-ended interviews with religious and secular entrepreneurs we demonstrate how, first, the value of formal political channels was eroded and, second, how the economic power of religious and secular consumers is used in the new struggles to shape the day of rest.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , April 2012 , pp. 161 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ammerman, Nancy T. 2007. “Introduction: Observing Modern Religious Life.” Everyday Religion: Observing Modern Religious Lives, ed. Nancy, T.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appadurai, Arjun. 1990. “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy.” Public Culture 2:1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arian, Asher, Atmor, Nir, and Hadar, Yael. 2007. Auditing Israeli Democracy 2007: Cohesion in a Divided Society. Jerusalem, Israel: Israeli Democracy Institute.Google Scholar
Arian, Asher, Hermann, Tamar, Atmor, Nir, Hadar, Yael, Lebel, Yuval, and Zaban, Hila. 2008. Auditing Israeli Democracy 2008: Between the State and Civil Society. Jerusalem, Israel: Israeli Democracy Institute.Google Scholar
Azaryahu, Maoz. 2000. “McIsrael? On the ‘Americanization of Israel.” Israel Studies 5:41–64.Google Scholar
Barber, Benjamin. 1992. “Jihad vs. McWorld.” The Atlantic Monthly, March 1992.Google Scholar
Barzilai, Gad. 2003. Communities and Law. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauman, Zygmunt. 1992. Intimations of Postmodernity. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Beck, Ulrich. 1996. “World Risk Society as Cosmopolitan Society? Ecological Questions in a Framework of Manufactured Uncertainties.” Theory, Culture & Society 13:1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, Ulrich. 1997. “Subpolitics.” Organization & Environment 10:52–65.Google Scholar
Beck, Ulrich. 1999. World Risk Society. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Ben-Porat, Guy, and Feniger, Yariv. 2009. “Live and Let Buy? Consumerism, Secularization and Liberalism.” Comparative Politics 41:293–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casanova, Jose. 1994. Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaves, Mark. 1994. “Secularization as Declining Religious Authority.” Social Forces 72:749–774.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, A., and Susser, B.. 2000. Israel and the Politics of Jewish Identity: The Secular-Religious Impasse. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cosgel, M., and Minkler, L.. 2004. “Religious Identity and Consumption.” Review of Social Economy 62:339–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, Russell. 2004. Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, Russell, and Wattenberg, Martin P.. 2000. Parties without Partisans: Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Diamond, Larry, and Gunther, Richard. 2001. “Introduction.” In Political Parties and Democracy, eds. Diamond, Larry, and Gunther, Richard. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobbalaere, Karl. 1999. “Towards an Integrative Perspective of the Process Related to the Descriptive Concept of Secularization.” Sociology of Religion 60:229–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Monoroe. 1999. Consumer Boycotts. New York, NY: Routledge Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, Monoroe. 1996. “A Positive Approach to Organized Consumer Action: the “Buycott” as An Alternative to the Boycott.” Journal of Consumer Policy 19:439–451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, Jonathan. 2002. Ethnoreligious Conflicts in the Late Twentieth Century: A General Theory. Lenham, MD: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Giddens, Anthony. 1991. Modernity and Self-identity. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Gruber, Jonathan, and Hungerman, Daniel M.. 2006. “The Church vs. the Mall: What Happens When Religion Faces Increased Secular Competition.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 12410.Google Scholar
Gutkind-Golan, Naomi. 1990. ‘‘Heikhal Cinema Case as a Symptom to Religious-Secular Relationship in Israel in the Eighties.’’ In Religious and Secular: Conflict and Accommodation between Jews in Israel, ed. Liebman, Charles. Jerusalem, Israel: Keter Publishing, 70–88.Google Scholar
Hay, Collin. 2007. Why We Hate Politics. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Held, David, et al. 1999. Global Transformations. Cambridge, UK: Polity PressGoogle Scholar
Hirschl, Ran 1994. “Constitutional Courts vs. Religious Fundamentalism: Three Middle Eastern Tales.” Texas Law Review 82:1819–1863.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. 1970. Exit, Voice and Loyalty Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations and States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Dan, and Moshe, Lissak. 1989. Trouble in Utopia: The Overburdened Polity of Israel. New York, NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Kajalo, Sami. 1997. Sunday Trading, Consumer Culture, and Shopping — Will Europe Sacrifice Sunday to Recreational Shopping? Paper Presented at the “Sosiologipaivat 1997” Conference.Google Scholar
Levi, Shlomit, Hana, Levinson, and Katz, Eliau. 2002. Jewish Israelis: Portrait. Jerusalem, Israel: Israeli Democracy Institute.Google Scholar
Lindridge, A. 2005. “Religiosity and the Construction of a Cultural-Consumption Identity.” Journal of Consumer Marketing 22:142–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markowitz, Fran, and Uriely, Nathan. 2002. “Shopping in the Negev: Global Flows and Local Contingencies.” City and Society 14:211–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClosky, Herbert. 1968. “Political Participation.” In International Encyclopedia of the social Sciences, ed. Sills, David L.New York, NY: Macmillan and Free Press.Google Scholar
Migdal, Joel. 2001. The State in Society Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohanty, Chandra Talpase. 1991. “Cartographies of Struggle: Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism.” In Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism, eds. Mohanty, C.T., Russu, A., and Torres, L.. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Norris, Pippa. 1999. “Introduction: The Growth of Critical Citizens?” In Critical Citizens, ed. Norris, Pippa. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nye, Joseph S. 1997. “Introduction: The Decline of Confidence in Government.” In Why People Don't Trust Government, eds. Nye, Joseph, Zelikow, Philip, and King, David. Harvard, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parry, G. 1972. Participation in Politics. Manchester, NH: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Pierre, Jon. 2000. Debating Governance: Authority, Steering and Democracy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, R.D. 2002. Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raucher, Alan. 1994. “Sunday Business and the Decline of Sunday Closing Laws: A Historical Review.” Journal of Church and State 36:13–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ravitzky, Aviezer. 1997. Religious and Secular Jews in Israel: A Kulturkampf? Jerusalem, Israel: Israel Democracy Institute.Google Scholar
Richter, Philip. 1994. “Seven Days’ Trading Make One Weak? The Sunday Trading Issue as an Index of Secularization.” The British Journal of Sociology 45333–348.Google Scholar
Schmitt, H., and Holmberg, S.. 1998. “Political Parties in Decline?” In Citizens and the state, eds. Klingemann, Hans-Dieter, and Fucus, Dieter. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shafir, G., and Peled, Y.. 2002. Being Israeli: The Dynamics of Multiple Citizenship. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shalev, Michael. 2000. “Liberalization and the Transformation of the Political Economy.” In The New Israel, eds. Shafir, Gershon, and Peled, Yoav. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Singerman, Diane. 1995. Avenues of Participation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University PressGoogle Scholar
Smith, Craig, N., 2001. “Changes in Corporate Practices in Response to Public Interest Advocacy and Actions: the Role of Consumer Boycotts and Socially Responsible Consumption in Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility.” In Handbook of Marketing and Society, eds. Bloom, Paul N., and Gundlach, Gregory T.. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Soen, Dan. 2003. Evra Vazaam Land: Cleavage and Identity in the Israeli Society. Kiryat Bialik, Israel: Ach Press.Google Scholar
Stolle, Dietland, Hooghe, Marc, and Micheletti, Michele. 2005. “Politics in the Supermarket: Political Consumerism as a Form of Political Participation.” International Political Science Review 26:245–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Scott M. 2005. The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Relations. New York, NY: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Turner, Bryan. 2008. “Goods non Gods: New Spiritualities, Consumerism and Religious Markets.” In Consumption and Generational Change: The Rise of Consumer Lifestyles, eds. Jones, Ian Rees, Higgs, Paul, and Ekerdt, David. Edison, NJ: Transaction Books.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, and Nie, Norman. 1972. Participation in America: Political Democracy and Social Equality. New York, NY: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Vigoda-Gadot, Eran, and Mizrahi, Shlomo. 2006. The Performance of the Public Sector in Israel: analyzing Citizens Attitudes and National Condition. Working Paper No. 6. The center for public management and policy and the department of public policy and administration: Haifa University.Google Scholar
Warren, Mark E. 2002. “What Does Democratic Participation Mean Today?” Political Theory 30:677–701.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yishai, Yael. 2003. Civil Society in Israel. Jerusalem, Israel: Carmel Publishing.Google Scholar